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popa,
You are over your head. Stop digging.
Cherrybin,
I was not playing games or trying to fool anyone. HIR and RJC are both much larger than the other congregations in Riverdale, with RJC larger than HIR. None of the shuls have a lot of singles — Riverdale isn’t the Upper West Side. And the typical family size is around 3 or 4 kids per family all around. I never made any claims regarding the minyan attendance or amount of learning taking place; although you would be surprised at the large number of retired folks who attend the daytime classes at HIR, there is indeed far more learning at night at the YI and at RJC.
“does not legitimize Avi Weiss as a Rabbi”
YU has not revoked his semicha; in fact he taught there for three decades and left on good terms. That makes him a rabbi. He has never questioned any of Rambam’s ikkarim; he speaks regularly about the importance of following halachah, he professes belief in Torah Mi Sinai and the authority of the Rabbis to interpret it and bind us to those interpretations. And nobody has ever questioned his personal level of observance. Being a troublemaker does not make one a pasul eid, and that is what the mid-level bureaucrat (whose identity was just exposed) in the Chief Rabbi’s office tried to do.
“Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is the smallest shul in Riverdale.”
The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale is the second largest congregation in Riverdale. I think the dues paying membership of HIR is around 500 families, and a large fraction were brought to Torah personally by Rabbi Weiss. The Riverdale Jewish Center (R’Rosenblatt) is larger, but the Young Israel of Riverdale (R’Willig) is smaller, as are Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale/Yonkers (R’Hain), Chabad, the Talner Shul, Torah V’Chessed Nanash (a.k.a. the Shteeble), Beth Aharon, and Kingsbridge Center of Israel. (As are the Conservative synagogue, and the two Reform synagogues.)
Popa rejects the halachic definition of a kosher eid and he complains that someone ELSE isn’t Orthodox?
“Obama spies on the whole country, and no problem.”
Silly boy, there aren’t enough government employees to spy on all 310+ million Americans. But I *want* the government to be spying on people who make telephone calls to suspected terrorists. And that is the difference between Nixon and Obama: Obama directs spying to protect us from terrorists, Nixon directed spying to protect himself when he was engaged in criminal activity.
Not narishkeit at all. It has been shown to effectively treat anxiety, depression, and other problems. Many frum therapists specialize in it.
Half of my right wing friends are blasting Obama because they think he is siding with Assad. The other half are blasting Obama because they think he is siding with Assad’s opponents.
Obama has correctly concluded that Assad is evil incarnate and that most of his opponents are as bad or worse.
The New York Post, the Fox television networks, and now the Wall Street Journal have been specializing in this kind of sleaze ever since Rupert Murdoch bought them. But too many people in our community have excused them because they promote right wing political causes. Hopefully this will finally wake up some of the folks who haven’t yet figured out that Ayn Rand isn’t Moshe Rabbeinu.
RYochananWannabe,
Several points:
“send me to a school which is against the SA(EZR 21)”
We don’t pasken from the Shulchan Aruch; we pasken according to today’s rabbis. Rav Soloveitchik z’tz’l, who qualified as a Gedol HaDor, was an enthusiastic supporter of co-ed schools, founding one himself in Boston. Your father is an Orthodox Rabbi and absolutely can follow Rav Soloveitchik’s position on that (and on anything else). When you get semicha yourself you might pasken differently but you have no right at this point in your life to question that! To doubt your father’s decision here may have put you over the issur of Kvod Av!!! Rav Soloveitchik was also an enthusiastic supporter of the idea that Jews need to have the best secular education; not only did he have an earned doctorate, but so did his wife, his son, both daughters, and both sons-in-law! All of them have remained completely dedicated to Torah and have inspired many thousands of Jews. Your father may well identify with that hashkafah.
Once you accept that you are bound by your father’s psak, you should have a discussion with your father. Many MO communities do have a lot of people who are lax in observance of some important mitzvot. I know because I myself am in one of those communities and I try to be an example to inspire those folks! There is nothing wrong, however, with feeling that you are a better fit for a community that is on the whole more careful with mitzvot. But you will never find a perfect community so be careful lest you set yourself up for disappointment. Be open minded that your hashkafah will not be the only legitimate one, and accepting about the fact that not all Jews are fully observant — yet. May your life become a model to inspire all Jews. Good luck!
“Which train from Monsey stops at 175th?”
None. I was only addressing getting from the bus terminal to the medical center.
“One of the orders mentioned in the Rishonim is definitely a Passul order. There is no way around that.”
No, it is entirely possible that any order is mutar b’Torah.
“From bus terminal to hospital”
A fourth option:
The 175th Street station on the A train has an exit at the terminal (with a long walk to the train platforms); take it one stop to 168th Street. You will not get a seat during rush hour.
‘A “king” who goes against Torah can be overthrown.’
Not al pi halachah. Rechovam was a rasha, but it is clear from the text of Tanakh and the rabbinic writings that Yeravam ben Navat should not have rebelled. The Naviim are blistering in their criticism of the kings of Israel and Judah, but how many times did they call for a popular rebellion to overthrow those kings?
“That a person can learn and be erlich–and work?”
Rambam wrote that you can learn and be erlich ONLY if you work.
Churchill and Ben Gurion allied with Stalin, yet I hear no objections here. And Stalin was far, far worse than anyone Mandela ever embraced.
There is a hypocritical double standard here.
“someone whose Ayin sounds like his Aleph cannot Daven by the Amud. Who are we left with?”
I’ve never met an Ashkenazi Jew who can pronounce the Ayin.
It should be noted that English has had many pronunciation shifts over time. Jacob Grimm, one of the brothers who wrote the famous children’s fairy tales, made a major contribution to the understanding of Indo-European languages by documenting consonant shifts that distinguish Germanic languages (including English) from other Indo-European languages; most took place before the Germanic languages were written down. For example, Latin “pater” is cognate with the modern English “father”. More recently there were vowel shifts in the late middle ages that resulted in the pronunciation of English vowels being very different from other Indo-European languages; but because English was already a written language the spelling did not change. This is most easily observed by trying to read a Middle English work such as Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”; the rhyming clearly shows how English used to be pronounced.
By comparison, the differences in Hebrew pronunciations are much smaller even though it is a much older language than any currently-spoken Indo-European language.
Here is something that should sober up every Jew who criticizes Mandela:
Mandela was arrested, tried, and convicted of offenses related to an attempt to overthrow the government of South Africa by force. That effort only began after the Apartheid police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, killing 69 of them.
The Prime Minister of South Africa at the time was Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, and he was still PM at the time of Mandela’s conviction and sentencing. Before and during World War II, Verwoerd had been the editor of a South African newspaper that used Christianity to justify racism, published diatribes against Jews, and openly cheered on Nazi victories while expressing delight at Allied losses. Verwoerd would then be the primary theoretician for Apartheid, never renouncing or regretting his support for the Nazi cause.
After Apartheid ended, Mandela went out of his way to reconcile with his enemies, even visiting Verwoerd’s widow.
My then 22 year old television died in 2003 and I never bothered to replace it.
Be respectful and call anyone who has been given any kind of semicha “rabbi”. If you don’t trust the semicha, just don’t ask them shilas!
Mandela was never anti-Israel, even though he is one of the few world leaders who would be absolutely justified to be.
Instead of bashing Mandela we should have asked mechila from him, as the Israeli government had made an alliance with the rashaim who had supported the Nazis during WW2 and created the Apartheid system in the image of Nazi Germany. To go further and to call him a Sonei Yisrael is a chilul HaShem. The real Sonei Yisrael were the people he spent his life fighting!
The idea that Mandela is anti-Israel is actually a hoax by anti-Israel activist Arjan El Fassed, who among other things writes for the electronic intifada web site, which is full of horribly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda. El Fassed wrote a fictitious letter by Mandela to Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in which Mandela calls Israel an Apartheid State. The real Mandela neither said nor wrote any such thing. Unfortunately a lot of Jews bought into the lie. Mandela does support a two state solution, but so have the last four Israeli Prime Ministers. And the Apartheid regime he fought for most of his life was created by people who openly supported the Nazis during WW2. We should be eulogizing him, not trashing him, if only for that!
My absolute favorite dish is red lentils with Indian spices.
Red lentils are biblical, ???? also appears in the bible to refer to India, and ???? also means Thanks. So I get to remember two biblical events and thank HaShem.
They are also very easy to cook, are very healthy, and are very delicious.
Even chutz l’aretz we really should have been praying for rain for two weeks, as the Julian Calendar has fallen behind by that long. I know that Julius Caesar was good to Jews, but even he would be smart enough to know not to follow it any more!
The accident is less than a mile from my house. Several people from the community showed up to try to help but the first responders had everything under control; this was a job for professionals. They were able to obtain no information regarding the identities of the victims.
I get the same error.
“The Chazon Ish wrote that he disagrees”
Based on what rishon?
“A buffalo is a bit harder to consider a cow, probably. Its physical appearance is very different.”
A Great Dane and a Yorkshire Terrier have very different physical appearances, but both are dogs.
“A dingo and dog? How differenet are dogs and wolves in the first place?”
Same species, all of them.
I love to cook!
We have cats. They never work. Every day is Shabat for them. They are here to inspire us with a preview of what like will be like when every day is like Shabat!
“midos of sedom “
Midot Sedom according to the Jewish tradition “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours” as expressed in Avot. It is what we hear from right wing Republicans on a regular basis, but you see plenty of defenses of such in the frum community. The prohibition of homosexuality in the Torah is from Sefer Vayikra, not Sefer Bereshit (and doesn’t mention women). The association of Sedom with the sin of homosexuality is a Christian take on the narrative.
While I am no fan of De Blasio, it really makes no sense to talk about “ties to the Sandinista regime” that are thirty years old and may well not exist any more. Lhota could have used the fact that the Sandinistas — back in power again — enforce a law that bans all abortions even when the mother will die as a result. (Of course, that would have gotten De Blasio the support of Yehuda Levin!)
It is also inappropriate to compare Shomrim with the armed vigilante patrol that Zimmerman was a part of. How many unarmed men have Shomrim murdered?
“Even the goyim know (obviously without our Torah), that this is a really bad move for the kids.”
Apparently not. Nor do Jews, even frum Jews. Look at Mike Bloomberg’s margins in the frum parts of NYC for his last two election campaigns. And I predict that the one candidate in today’s Mayoral election who has made same sex marriage an issue won’t do very well. (Both De Blasio and Lhota are supporters of same sex marriage.)
I put my diplomas in my office.
Given that the fedora wasn’t invented until the late 19th century, it is really difficult to argue that it is halachically required.
And if people knew the origin of the hat and how it was named, it would NEVER be worn by frum Jews! It was first used as part of a costume for the notorious licentious Jewish apostate actress Sarah Bernhardt; “Fedora” was the name of her character. For decades the style was only a women’s hat and men only started wearing the style in the 20th century around the time of Bernhardt’s death.
” some people regularly quote tanach, gemara and what not here”
Tanakh, Mishnayot, and the Bavli are all online in both Hebrew and English.
“one man’s left is another man’s right.”
Everyone to my right is crazy and everyone to my left is treif.
“It is disingenuous to compare a politician’s polytheism with society’s normalization of same-gender marriage.”
No, it isn’t. The politician got over sixty million votes. Polytheism is normative (over six million Mormons in the US), legal in all states, and protected by the Constitution. And the prohibition against worshiping more than one God is clearly stated in all relevant source as a violation of the Noachide laws.
“Charliehall: Who was the polytheist?”
Mitt Romney. The LDS church explicitly believes in many Gods.
Is this the one in Riverdale? I’ve met some of the faculty and they are first rate.
Casinos are a plague on society. In Eastern Connecticut they have destroyed many other entertainment venues and restaurants by sucking up all discretionary income, and the enabling of compulsive gambling produces massive human misery. Vote against this referendum!
Herman Wouk is a frum writer (98 years old and still alive and writing) who has written novels on Jewish themes, and has also published three excellent sefarim in English for the popular market.
“we don’t seem to protest against them when we see them carried out among non-Jews.”
The United States of America rejected the Noachide laws in 1788 when it adopted a Constitution that allows idol worshipers to hold any office, even President of the United State. Many frum Jews voted last fall for a polytheist for that office. What is the justification for objecting to same sex marriage but not idolatry?
“If we get too upset about what goyin and frei Jews do in bed, we’ll be very upset. “
It does seem to be a losing political issue. The right wing Republican who is running for Governor of Virginia tried to bring back Virginia’s sodomy prohibitions and he is now down by 17 points in the Republican-biased Rasmussen poll.
“what happens when they come for shechita or bris melah?”
Well, when brit milah was attacked in San Francisco last year people from every part of the political spectrum came out to support it, the California legislature (dominated by liberal Democrats) enacted a law to prevent such attacks-by-referendum in the future, and Gov. Jerry Brown signed it.
“The only reason to go to college or university is to learn a trade or profession.”
Rav Hirsch and Rav Soloveitchik strongly disagreed. They saw secular education as an *inherent* good.
That said, it isn’t for everyone. There are lots of challenges in and outside the classroom. One should consult with a good rav to determine when one is ready. Many gedolim have been university-educated — going all the way to some rishonim — but prior to the 20th century every single one had extensive Torah education prior to starting university. Today there are frum-friendly environments such as YU and Touro that support dual curriculum and they produce frum Jews with good secular knowledge as well as some outstanding talmidei chachamim.
Years ago Rabbi Mordechai Willig was stunned to learn that a man in his congregration had refused his wife a get. He immediately convened a beit din and they instituted Rabbeinu Tam’s strictures on the man. The other congregations in the neighborhood were informed and every single one cooperated. I know someone who was ordered by R’Willig to disinvite the man from a family simchah.
A few months later, the man gave the get, and R’Willig told the gabbai to give him shlishi the following Shabat morning. R’Willig then developed the RCA prenup as a way to prevent this from happening in the future. No rabbi in America should ever marry a couple without the prenup.
” A real beis din cannot convene a session without both parties present.”
That is indeed the halachah. But in addition to this example, beit dins in Israel have pasuled conversions without the convert being present. This is worse than the stuff the Conservative movement does.
The closest synagogue to me is an Orthodox synagogue whose social hall is named for a member who won a Nobel Prize in Medicine in the 1970s, the late Dr. Rosalyn Yalow. May there be many more such honors!
FWIW, Jews for most of our history studied secular subjects. Numerous gedolim went to university, including Rambam and Sforno (yes, “gedol” is inadequate to describe them — they were Rishonim!). Total rejection of secular learning is a 200 year old chiddush. In this area MO is following the traditional view.
Similarly, kollel for the masses has no precedent. Again, MO whose kollels are limited to the elite learners are the ones following the traditional practice.
“I think many MO people view halakha and observance in terms of minimalist floors, rather than maximalist ceilings; i.e. they believe that keeping shabbat, eating kosher, going to shul once a week, and keeping taharat hamishpacha are sufficient to live Jewishly.”
There are such people. And I think they are wrong. And I self-identify as MO.
“The greatest Torah giants (the Brisker Rav, the Chazon Ish, Rav Aharon Kotler, the Satmar Rov and many others, in no particular order) spoke against Zionism”
Rav Reines, Rav Kook, Rav Herzog, Rav Uziel, Rav Soloveitchik, Rav Eliyahu, Rav Shapira, Rav Amital, and Rav Ovadia Yosef all z’tz’l along with Rav Lichtenstein, Rav Aviner, and Rav Schachter were as Zionists. Any list of “The greatest Torah giants” must include at least some of them.